<p>Academic</p>
<p>Undergraduate Diploma: Bachelors degree in Political Science
Undergraduate College/University: Top 25 (#24 in US News)
GPA: 3.38
GMAT score: 650-700 based on practice tests</p>
<p>Work-related</p>
<p>Work Experience:
-4 1/2 years as an Army Officer (Combat Arms Branch)
-Held positions and Led Soldiers at the Platoon level (~40 men) and at the Brigade level (~3,500 people) where I led various projects.
- 2 Combat tours in Afghanistan, medals for valor and performance, and great evaluation reports.</p>
<p>In addition</p>
<p>-Bilingual
-Son of southeast asian immigrants
-Member of numerous professional organizations, also did extensive volunteer work in college and presently.</p>
<p>My top schools in the US are Duke, Carnegie Mellon, and Cornell, although I would really like to attend Oxford Said or Cambridge Judge because it is only 1 year and will end up being cheaper (with only 1 year of tuition and the opportunity cost of working)</p>
<p>Please let me know of my chances!</p>
<p>Bump,</p>
<p>Also, has anyone here ever studied abroad (no just travel study) in the UK? Please share your experience!</p>
<p>I would say that if you got your GMAT score closer to the 700 side of things you would be fine for CMU. I think Duke and Cornell could happen too with a slightly higher GMAT. Make sure your essays reflect your leadership skills and how they will ultimately apply to the business world. </p>
<p>Sorry I don’t know too much about the UK. I’ve heard that Northwestern used to offer a 1 year program too. Again a higher GMAT would help your chances there too.</p>
<p>Be careful about going abroad for MBA. Oxford-Said and Cambridge-Judge network in the US is very limited. It’ll be difficult to get a job back in the US. Even INSEAD and LBS do not have good US placement. </p>
<p>If you get your GMAT to 700, you’ll have a shot at all of your target schools.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the input. I know the GMAT is the critical gate for me right now. The main appeal for the abroad schools was that it was a one year program. I mean if you finish in 1 year and start at 90-110K, and 1 year of tuition is 50K, you are saving 140 to 160K! I want to do international business, specifically dealing with asia, so maybe it could be a benefit there. Would you happen to know of a couple of other good schools that might be a good fit, and perhaps one safety?</p>
<p>Good schools for international exposure are INSEAD in Singapore (especially for Asia) and HEC in Paris. I think INSEAD may have a one year program as well. A safety that you may want to consider is Thunderbird in Phoenix, AZ. It tries to pride itself as the best international business program in America. I don’t see it often ranked high up there in overall rankings, but the alumni really try to take care of each other. I used to work for a bank that did a lot of business in Asia and we had a couple of people with MBAs from Thunderbird who always raved about it.</p>
<p>I’m not sure you will be paid the same for a one year as you would be coming out of a top 2 year program in the States, but thats just an intuitive guess. I’m sure you can find starting salaries on any of the rankings though. I know that people in Asia get paid less and in Europe, the taxes are much higher than they are in the States.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that one of the biggest benefits to the two year program is the summer internship. All of my friends at Kellogg who were military felt that summer experience was invaluable in determining what industry they wanted to go into after school. That $50K savings is obviously attractive, but a one year program has limitations. Also, many one year (or 15 month) programs require that you have an undergraduate degree in business.</p>
<p>I would have to concur with oldcmcalum on this. When I was in business school, all the guys who were former military who got a shot at PE, I-Banking and asset management did so through their summer internships (its kind of funny that I didn’t see many of these guys end up elsewhere). I’m not sure the people hiring would have taken the risk of making full time offers with our ex-military guys (or anyone without prior industry experience) had these companies not had the chance to get comfortable with our MBA’s over a summer.</p>